


pillow talk

by notnowcommander



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Liam is a Little Shit, Mutual Pining, Ryder is really awkward, but they're good eggs, pure fluff, who just wanna cuddle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-17 13:11:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10594701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notnowcommander/pseuds/notnowcommander
Summary: Ryder learns the hard way that Liam is a pain to share a bed with, from stealing sheets, to taking up too much space, and even Jaal's supposed whimpering, but maybe finding a middle ground is easier and sweeter than she thinks.





	

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing these nuggets, and eager to hear what you guys think!! :)

Amelia learns pretty quickly that Liam is horrible to share a bed with.

She supposes she should have seen it coming. The signs were all there. He’s almost constantly either moving or talking, always doing something. In combat, he jumps right in, not afraid of taking harsh blows and getting in close. And then there was the time she stumbled upon him passed out with half his body falling off his suspicious dorm room couch. She thought that maybe sleeping in — well — a bed would tame that a bit.

She’d woken up from yet another nightmare about Habitat 7 and was unable to get back to sleep. She’d tossed and turned, and read through emails, through some of the books in her cabin, but her room had started to feel suffocating. She pulled on her hoodie and started to pace the corridors of the Tempest. 

She’s never heard it this quiet before. To hear the Tempest so silent makes her uneasy. It makes her want to go wake everyone up and tell them they had work to do. How could they all sleep soundly in their beds when people were still sleeping on ice? And others were sleeping in fear of a Kett attack on their outpost?

She hears something move in the galley, and moves that direction. She isn’t sure who she’s hoping to find. Maybe someone like Vetra or Lexi, always willing to be a big sister, lend an ear. Maybe Drack, where he’ll just tell her to punch the wall until she gets too tired to stay awake anymore. It doesn’t sound like a half-bad idea.

But opening the galley to find Liam seated at the table, skimming over a data pad, presents a new and possibly more daunting predicament than finding sleep. He’s mostly dressed — which isn’t always the case — with a pair of Andromeda Initiative sweat pants and a t-shirt, and a pair of glasses propped on his nose. 

“Oh, hey, Pathfinder,” he says, looking up just a little.

She waves it off. “Come on, it’s the middle of the night cycle. No Pathfinder bullshit.”

He smiles. “Alright, I can do that. Can’t sleep either?”

She shakes her head and moves over to join him. She slides onto the bench beside him, and pulls her knees up to her chest. She knows it doesn’t have to be weird, but leave it to her to make it weird. Relationships start somewhere. It starts small, and seeing him in such a quiet setting startles her, and feels like a much bigger moment than maybe it should be. Since the one night they spent together, they haven’t shared a bed, and spend time together on the ship and planet side, but always go their separate ways before bed, usually with no more than a goodnight kiss, if that.

“No.”

“Don’t blame you.”

“What about you? Your terrible couch not doing it tonight?”

He smirks. “I was sleeping in the crew quarters.”

“Fair, I don’t know how anyone would sleep a night on that couch.”

“You did,” he replies.

She blushes and looks away.

“Though, granted, that time I did cushion you a bit. So one day, when we’ve got a home here and make some sick credits off it? You can pay for my chiropractor.”

She can’t help but smile back. That’s what she likes about Liam. Sometimes he’s not afraid to continue for her.

“Crew quarters aren’t much better,” he adds, “especially not with Jaal’s snoring.”

She laughs. “He’s dozed off in the Nomad a few times-.”

“With _your_ driving?”

“Hey!” she says, shoving his shoulder.

“I’m just messing with you.”

She swallows and looks away. She knows it would just be better to say it, to spit it out. He sure as hell isn’t afraid of being spontaneous. Maybe he’ll like it if she just says dumb shit before thinking. Maybe he’s thinking the same thing.

“You know, you could come stay in my quarters, if you want,” she suggests, and scrunches her eyes shut. There were not many other ways to put it, but she still feels like she sounded like a massive idiot. “I mean, it’s quiet there, at least, and the bed’s bigger.”

He doesn’t respond right away, and she sighs.

“Ugh.”

Liam laughs under his breath, and she notices that his leg is brushing hers, just a little bit.

“That sounded stupid,” she continues.

“Not more stupid than any given word out of my mouth. But, if you’re offering… It would be nice to spend a night with you in an actual bed.”

Her cheeks flush, and she wonders what exactly he means. She wants to be close with him so desperately, even in the simplest of ways. She just doesn’t know how to bridge the gaps. It’s never been a strong suit of hers. She never knows if it’s okay to touch him — though he’s touchy himself — or if she comes across as awkward and desperate, though he is always happy to return her affection and bad jokes. He’s given her no reason to be concerned about the two of them together, and it’s a refreshing feeling.

She takes a moment, and nods. “Okay, then let’s go.”

He smiles and tosses the data pad back on the table. She reaches for his hand and guides him out of the galley and toward her quarters. There aren’t any rules, not like in the Alliance, but she’s sure Director Tann or even Cora maybe would raise questions with two members of the Pathfinder team being in a relationship. But maybe her hesitation or nervousness comes from elsewhere…

They reach her quarters, and he sighs when he sees the size of her bed, and quickly throws himself on it. 

“Oh… wow, you have seriously been holding out on me.”

She laughs. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Absolutely not. I’m never leaving.”

_Well, good,_ she thinks.

She joins him on the bed, and he looks up at her, slipping his glasses off his face and putting them on the nightstand. She swallows, and hesitates before resting a hand on his chest. He reaches out and curls his fingers around hers, and then pulls her in for a kiss. She eases herself on top of him and wraps her arms around his shoulders. His lips are soft and the kisses come so slow and tender that it makes her shiver. She pulls away after a moment and presses her forehead to his. 

She can tell sleep is ready to take him over, and she feels it herself. Though the adrenaline pumps through her body, wondering if they’ll get caught, if someone will give her shit for yet another mistake, or if she’s even _allowed_ to do this in the first place. 

Amelia’s never been truly alone before. There was always her mom, always Scott, sometimes dad. Someone was always there looming over her to remind her what the right and wrong thing to do was. It feels jarring to have no one now. No pesky brother to poke his head into the room and tell her to be careful, no dad to give potential romantic interests a side-eye (not that her dad would have even really known before they came to Andromeda), or her mom lecturing her about not getting into trouble or making choices based off a partner. In her head, she’s still asking herself if this is okay, if it’s okay to have her sort-of-boyfriend share a bed with her.

She’s only twenty-two, and half the time still feels like a child, yet one that people keep asking the impossible of. She was old enough to join the Alliance and become a peacekeeper, but when she came home, she was always still just a kid. 

Now, she has no home. And she’s the person people look to to pave the way in a new galaxy. Instead of questioning herself or running away from her fears, it just makes her pull Liam closer.

She kisses him again, softly, and strokes her thumb against his cheek. “Bedtime?”

He nods. “Yes, please.”

She pulls the covers over them, and there’s a moment of hesitation from both of them, as if neither of them know what’s okay to do or not do. She doesn’t make a move — too afraid to — and neither does he. So instead, he pulls a pillow under his body, cradling it, and it hardly takes more than a minute before he’s asleep again. She leans over, and presses a kiss to his forehead before falling asleep as well.

 

***

It’s hardly an hour later when she wakes up with no covers. Cold air sweeps over her legs, and she grips at the missing sheets, only to find they aren’t on her side of the bed at all. Amelia sits up and rubs her eyes. She checks the side of the bed to see if she’s thrown them off herself. Nothing. Then she looks to Liam, who has undoubtedly taken all of the sheets from her. He bundles him in some kind of cocoon, breathing heavy and fast asleep. She lets out a heavy sigh and rests back down on the bed. She shakes him, and instead of him waking up, there’s a soft moan and he buries his face more into the pillow.

“Liam,” she groans.

He opens an eye, evaluates that he’s stolen the sheets, and mumbles “Sorry”. She accepts his apology, and instead bundles herself just a little closer to him, and fixes the sheets so that her whole body is covered. It takes some tugging and nudging, but she finds warmth and sleep again.

Until the same thing happens just minutes later, except this time accompanied with Liam nearly shoving her off the bed. She groans, and elbows him awake, and he scoots back over to his side of the bed. She watches a look of guilt spread across his face.

“Sorry. Not used to having this much space,” he grumbles, and then goes back to sleep.

She’s glad that at least someone’s getting a good night sleep, but part of her wonders if she could get used to this, or if there’s no way in hell this boy will work out if he doesn’t let her sleep through the night.

She decides the best way to finally get undisturbed sleep would be to grab a blanket and migrate to the couch in her cabin, and just surrender the entire bed to Liam. And so she does. For tonight, he can keep it.

 

***

 

Amelia remembers things she’s overheard around the Tempest, or from others. Jaal had teased him about whimpering in his sleep, and even Gil had mentioned that Liam never stopped moving in his sleep, and was quite the disruption in the crew quarters, and often doesn’t sleep through the night. She finds it astonishing given his constant level of energy, but having now seen it herself, she understands. She finds herself each night trying to find ways for the two of them to share a bed, to be close to one another without it ending in sheet stealing or him taking up too much space, or any other disruption.

One morning after a fitful night’s sleep, Liam finds her in the galley, still mostly asleep himself and half-blindly looking for coffee. His hair sticks up in all directions, and his eyes are mostly closed. It’s somehow still a good look. But she notes that he doesn’t look so happy and ready to start his day. Once the coffee brews, he sits down across from her, with little to no affection, so she reaches for his hand. She thinks about the first day they met, just before Habitat 7, and on the planet itself when they were the only two to find each other for some time. They’d protected one another, and taken care of each other, grabbing hands to pull each other onto ledges, realizing right away that they worked well together. Now that she knows the hands under the armored gloves and omni-blades, she swears she can feel the warmth now even in combat.

He fiddles with her fingers and squeezes her hand, but still won’t speak.

“Morning,” she says, finally.

“Yeah.”

Her thumb brushes against the back of his palm. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” he replies.

She leans over the table in the galley, and presses a kiss to his nose. He smiles for a brief moment. He’s usually the one for dumb romantic gestures that make her blush. Maybe it’s time for the tables to turn a bit.

He shrugs. “Just noticing that since we started sharing a bed, you always end up going elsewhere.”

She swallows. “Not a great sleeper, I guess.”

He looks up. “I think it’s because of me.”

She shakes her head. “Of course not.”

“Hmm.”

“Liam, it’s okay. I mean, I want you there.”

He doesn’t say anything at first, like he’s for once thinking things over before he says something stupid.

“Maybe I should just sleep in my own bunk tonight.”

Amelia looks up at him, and realizes he’s already convinced. There might not be any persuading him otherwise. 

“Just to give you a rest,” he finishes, nodding.

Words fail her, and she thinks maybe she’s made a mistake. Maybe she should have just sucked it up, and found a way to get used to it. If they were ever going to be in a relationship together, there were lots of things they’d have to get used to: shower lengths, or which direction the toilet paper faced, or what each other’s ideal date nights were. There were always going to be compromises. Amelia couldn’t believe she’d managed to fuck that up already.

“I’ll see you later?” he says, “Gotta get to the shower before Drack does.”

She gives a smile, and nods. “Sure.”

He crosses and presses a kiss to the top of her head, and it comforts her for a moment to know he at least cares enough to show some affection when she’s been a giant baby, clearly.

“Hey, doc,” he says as he leaves the room, and Lexi joins Amelia in the galley.

“Morning, Pathfinder.”

She nods and shrugs. “Yeah, you too.”

“Uh oh,” Lexi says, voice trailing off. Amelia knows she’s about to be given a shrink session. “Trouble in paradise?”

Amelia rolls her eyes. “No, not really.”

“Well, it’s something.”

She groans, and turns around to face the Asari. “It’s just… we started spending the night in my quarters.”

She can tell Lexi’s searching her brain for a good sex talk, before she’s interrupted.

“Look, Liam sleeps like a monster. He steals sheets, takes up lots of space, sometimes makes noise.”

Lexi stares. “Uh huh… I have heard Gil complain about the same thing. Though, I take lots of complaints from Gil with a grain of salt.”

“It’s stupid. It’s just… tiring, though. I want him there, because obviously I care, but it’s tricky. I’m… very particular about how I sleep.”

“You want to know what I think?”

“Sure.”

Lexi sighs, sad, maybe. “I think he’s lonely.”

It’s something she’s wondered since she woke up. She wonders about every person out here, every person who chose to jump across dark space and wake up when everyone else they loved was not only dead, but in another galaxy. Sometimes it weighs on her — when maybe she doesn’t need to — that Liam chose to come here, and that his entire family has been dead for at least five-hundred years. She wonders what it feels like on his shoulders.

“Lonely? You think he steals sheets because he’s lonely?”

“He’s alone out here, and sometimes I don’t think we really listen to him when he has things to say. Goddess knows I’ve done it too, skipped letting him talk during an exam because I was worried about the facts or what I could mark down on a chart.”

Amelia feels something pang in her chest, and believes Lexi could be right. How could anyone be completely free of loneliness out here?

“So what do I do about that?” she asks.

“He trusts you, and goodness, does he like you. I think that if anyone stands a chance of making him feel better, it’s you.”

 

*** 

 

“I can’t believe you’ve never seen this,” Liam says, for the eighth time during the movie. By the time the credits roll, she figures maybe he’d believe it by now.

“I know, you’ve said that before.”

“I mean, I really just… can’t believe it. Like shit.”

Amelia leans against his chest, and readjusts herself to get more comfortable. She’s glad that he wanted to spend time with her after their awkward encounter that morning. She kept Lexi’s words in mind, and when they retired to the Tempest for the night, asked him if he wanted to join her and watch a vid together. His pick.

“Let me guess, you came to Andromeda to be Ripley.”

He shakes his head. “Oh, no. Well, maybe the badassery. But not the creepy shit. I’m good.”

“I dunno,” she teases, “maybe we just haven’t found a Remnant that looks like the alien.”

“Don’t,” he whispers, “give them ideas.”

She smiles and turns to look up at him. She climbs on top of him and wraps her arms around his shoulders. He reaches a hand up and cups her face, brushing strands of hair out of her face. He smiles up at her, and sometimes she swears all it takes is seeing his smile to make everything feel better. Maybe she should have taken the hint by his dorky wave and smile upon waking up from cryo that the new galaxy wouldn’t be so bad.

“You look beautiful with your hair down,” he says.

She blushes and leans forward to kiss him. He happily accepts and weaves his hands in her hair. 

“And you look handsome with your hair all messy like this,” she teases back and he laughs, trying not to break from kissing her.

“Oh, flatterer,” he jokes, squeezing her against his body tighter. 

“I’m serious.”

He laughs again, and bites down on her bottom lip. His lips move down her jaw, and to the spot below her ear, leaving a trail of hungry kisses all the way down her neck, when he stops suddenly. She glances down, and watches him cover his mouth as he yawns. She laughs again.

“Wow, I was that boring?”

He smirks. “Stop it.”

He goes quiet for a moment. Amelia reaches for his hand and presses a kiss to the back of his palm. She snuggles her head into his chest, taking in the sweet scent of his clothing and smooth skin. 

“Alright, I think it’s almost time for bed,” he says, and she hears the words vibrate against his chest. She nods, and pulls him closer as he goes to move away. Liam looks down at her, and tilts her face up.

She cups his cheek and brushes her nose against his, and presses a kiss to his skin. “Stay.”

“You deserve a good night sleep. I know I can be… a lot.”

She smiles and shrugs. “It’s okay. You’re… someone I want to be with. I think it’s worth trying to find different ways we work.”

“I…” he says, and can’t find many reasons to refuse, “if you’re sure.”

She kisses him again. “I am.”

 

***

 

Amelia wakes up a few hours later, when she hears Liam fidgeting beside her. All the sheets are intact, and he hasn’t thrown her off the bed, but she’s sure something is off. She hears him sniffle, and rubs her eyes as he grips at the sheets below them. She recognizes it from all the times it happened to Scott after their mother’s death. Whenever they were together, she’d let him sleep in her room, just so neither of them had to be alone. His nightmares hit worse than hers did, but now, she feels prepared.

She gently nudges Liam and rests a hand on his bare shoulder, stroking his skin softly. He lets go of the sheets, and she quickly replaces them with her own hand. It takes another moment, and a few helpless whimpers for him to wake up. She scoots closer, and cups his cheek, pressing kisses to the top of his head.

“It’s okay,” she whispers, “just a bad dream.”

His breathing evens out, and the grip on her hand loosens. She watches him swallow and bury his face in the pillow.

“It’s okay,” she says, “you’re safe.”

Liam picks his head up and rubs his eyes with the back of his hand. He sniffles away whatever’s left of the nightmare.

“Sorry,” he mutters.

“It’s okay,” she replies.

“Tried really hard to just let you sleep tonight.”

She can’t be angry, not when he’s upset, not when it really isn’t his fault. It never really has been. Her heart hurts, and she thinks of what Lexi said earlier in the day. He’s lonely. She can tell, though he covers it so well. 

“I promise. It’s okay. You alright?”

He nods. “Yeah, just a bad dream, like you said. You can go back to sleep.”

But she doesn’t.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” she says instead.

It takes Liam a second to decide to speak. “I mean, we’re all out here on our own. You too. I left mum and dad behind, and yours are gone, and your brother’s in a coma. It’s sometimes tough being out here by yourself.”

“We’re not really alone, are we?”

He thinks for a moment. “Guess not.”

“Not us,” she says.

He smiles back, but she can tell it’s weak. “Yeah. I just miss ‘em, is all.”

“You’d be crazy if you didn’t.”

She moves closer, and drapes one of his arms over her body. She looks up, and uses her thumb to wipe away a stray tear on his cheek. 

“Thanks,” he says.

She nods. “Of course. You good to go back to sleep?”

“Think so.”

Liam turns over, and snuggles into the blankets again. Amelia watches him a moment, and thinks that it would be a crime to not hold him, to not do _something_ to let him know she cares just as much as he does. He’s always been the first person to offer himself to her, spent god knows how long in SAM Node next to her after Habitat 7. There’s no question he cares, just if she cares as much back.

She gently eases an arm over his body and presses a kiss to the center of his back. He doesn’t respond at first, but then turns over, and curls himself into her closer. They bump elbows and knees a few times, before they find a way to sleep snuggled close to one another.

“This is good,” he says, and that’s all.

She smiles. “I think so too.”

Amelia runs her hand up and down his back as he begins to follow her breathing pattern, and she hears him drift off to sleep. He doesn’t whimper, or fidget, and she stays awake a while, just to make sure. She runs through emails and mission reports, and keeps herself awake until she can’t anymore, and Liam doesn’t move the entire time, and doesn’t end up moving until morning.

Once she finally accepts sleep, she looks down at him and strokes her thumb along his cheekbone. She’s never seen him so content and so peaceful in his sleep before, and she likes the visual all too much. There’s something boyish and content about it that reminds her why she likes him so much in the first place, and why he’s the first person she wants to turn to when things go to shit. It reminds her that this new place could definitely be home.


End file.
